“Hello!”
Posted September 22, 2012 by dunhame
As we at GSLIS welcome autumn and enjoy our first “official” pumpkin spiced lattes and cinnamon-rimmed adult beverages of the season, we also find ourselves already in the thick of Fall Semester 2012. For many of us, including myself, this September we have noticed our 1-year anniversary of moving to Boston to embark upon the journey that is library school pass us by. Realizing this has inspired me to step back and think about how far we’ve all come together since those first days at GSLIS.
The year-ago version of myself looked about the same as I do right now: sitting at her cluttered desk in Allston, typing out something or other on her laptop that could pass as a candidate for a donation to a computer history museum. There’s something quite different about this year’s version of me, however. This year’s version went to campus this morning and said “Hello!” to, give or take, 10 familiar faces. Perhaps, for you that seems like a small number, but for me, saying “Hello!” to a handful of people this morning was a pretty big deal.
Last year, when friends from home would ask me, “How’s school?” or, “How’s Boston,” somewhere within my response would be the admittance that I missed the familiarity of being in Kirksville, MO, where I went to a tight-knit undergraduate school. I missed the feeling of walking to campus and being sure that I would recognize at least one person that I passed. Even as a self-identified introvert, those small moments of feeling like I belonged to a group were important to me. Adjusting to a new environment without that sense of belonging wasn’t easy. Luckily, I wasn’t the only GSLIS student experiencing the troubles of “newness;” soon enough, all of the anonymous new students began talking to each other, hanging out outside of class, and forming social circles. This year’s version of me sometimes says, “I have too many friends!”
Most of me is joking about having “too many friends,” but I should point out that during this past week, which was particularly stressful for me, I did find myself feeling overwhelmed at the number of friendships I’m currently maintaining. I’ve ironically discussed this with a couple of my friends here–we’re all too busy to have friends! Most of us have taken on more this semester than ever before, whether that involves more hours at work, multiple jobs/internships, full-time coursework, or what have you. I’m reminded of Julie’s “Juggling Act” once again; as we each adjust to new schedules we need to take into consideration our own personal needs and balance our booming social lives with our work and school lives. It’s a lot to manage, certainly, but knowing that I have friends here to lean on is a great comfort, even if I’m technically too busy to be talking to them right now.